The Figueroa Street Tunnels, 1938

 

Thanks to Historic Los Angeles. 

This 1954 movie, starring Lon Chaney, Jr. has fugitives driving through the Figueroa Street Tunnel.  See the 48:11 mark.

1941, View looking northeast along the Arroyo Seco Parkway (now part of the 110 Freeway) showing two-way traffic flowing through one of the Figueroa Street Tunnels. On the left, construction is underway for a new parallel extension road designed to alleviate rush hour bottlenecks through the Figueroa Tunnels for traffic between Los Angeles and Pasadena. This new extension of the Arroyo Seco Parkway will serve southbound traffic, while the Figueroa Street Tunnel section will accommodate northbound traffic. In the background, the framing of the new Park Row Bridge, which will straddle the new extension, can be seen. The building on the left is Solano Avenue Elementary School, located in the Elysian Park area of Los Angeles. Photo credy by LADWP Archives.  Thanks to Carlos Lucero.

1957, Look familiar? Here's an old photo of the southbound Pasadena Freeway, aka, the Arroyo Seco Parkway.  Traffic jams were nothing new.  Thanks to Jose Sotela.

1958, Here is a section of the 11 Freeway/Pasadena Freeway/Figueroa Street from Chavez Ravine.  

Jack Taylor

Jack Taylor, Season 1, Episode 1, The Guards, 2010.

Jack Taylor, Season 1, Episode 3, The Magdalen Martyrs, Part 1.  2011

Jack Taylor, Season 1, Episode 3, The Magdalen Martyrs, Part 2.

Jack Taylor, Season 1, Episode 3, The Magdalen Martyrs, Part 3.

Jack Taylor, Season 1, Episode 3, The Magdalen Martyrs, Part 4.  

Jack Taylor, Season 1, Episode 3, The Magdalen Martyrs, Part 5.

Jack Taylor, Season 1, Episode 3, The Magdalen Martyrs, Part 6.

Broadway Tunnel

Lots of good pics here of the tunnel.

1902, South approach to the Broadway Tunnel and the stairway leading up to Fort Hill. A man is riding a horse-drawn wagon into the tunnel while two men are crossing the unpaved road and appear to also be heading toward the tunnel opening. There was a sign over the Tunnel that read,  “$50.00 fine for riding through this tunnel faster than a walk.”  Thanks to Water & Power.  

1925, View of the south portal of the Broadway Tunnel, near Broadway and Temple Street.  The ‘5 line’ streetcar 1435 can be seen headed southbound on Broadway.

A LITTLE HISTORY

The Broadway Tunnel was closed for reconstruction in 1915. The roadway was lowered to decrease the grade, wood block flooring was installed to provide a noiseless surface for the traffic of teams and automobiles, and a false roof was built inside the original shell. Because of the lowering, it was necessary to make a cut of 14 feet in California Street and to change the grade of North Broadway from Temple Street to the tunnel. The concrete archway of the Broadway Tunnel was 20 feet high, and the entire bore was lined with white glazed tile. The stairway on the outer face of the southern portal was extended to a rise of 65 feet to Fort Moore Hill.

1926, Straight-on view showing the full extent of the Broadway Tunnel as seen through the southern portal looking north. Several pedestrians are seen walking through the tunnel on the sidewalk adjacent to the road. A steel-frame pedestrian staircase makes its way up the front face of the tunnel.

1926, View looking south showing the northern portal of the Broadway Tunnel as seen from Sunset Boulevard.  Cars are going in and out of the tunnel while pedestrians are seen walking on the sidewalk at right.  Note the signboards that surround the tunnel opening.

LOOKING SOUTH AT THE NORTHERN ENTRANCE

1929, Southwest corner of North Broadway and Sunset Boulevard, showing the north portal of the Broadway Tunnel, which later was demolished, the hill removed and the street widened. The newly constructed City Hall, 1928, can be seen in the background.

The tunnel was located on Broadway, south of Sunset Boulevard, and north of Temple.

1930, Looking north showing the Broadway Tunnel with the steel-frame pedestrian staircase now removed.  The 1925-built Hall of Justice is seen on the right.

The southern entrance of the Broadway Tunnel with the Hall of Justice in the foreground.  North of the Hall of Justice is the Alhambra Hotel.  

Okay, this shot is looking south on Broadway, and you can see the Alhambra Hotel there on the left.  

Okay, this shot is looking south, too, with the Alhambra Hotel on the left and then the Alhambra Annex or Alhambra Hotel Apartments on the right.  

1935, Looking south toward the northern portal of the Broadway Portal from Sunset Boulevard with billboards all around the tunnel entrance.

1944, View looking north showing the entrance to the Broadway Tunnel on September 4, 1944.  Herald-Examiner Collection. 

Okay, this shot is looking north on Broadway with the Broadway Tunnel drawn there in the distant center of the sketch. 

Here's a view of the entrance from the north during its demolition in 1949

1949, View showing the north end of the Broadway Tunnel as it is being razed to make room for the construction of the Hollywood Freeway. An electric streetcar moves along the tunnel by-pass tracks just in front of the Federal Courthouse and City Hall at left. The Los Angeles County Hall of Justice is partially visible behind the tunnel.  Photo Date:  June 11, 1949.

1949 – View showing the Broadway Tunnel’s south entrance at the time of its demolition, with construction equipment and workers above the tunnel. The Board of Education building is visible in the background [to the west] on Fort Moore Hill. Today, the 101 Freeway runs below the ground level seen in the image, and the ground level shown is now the overcrossing of the freeway.

Bunker Hill, 1951

This is one of the better aerial shots that I've seen.  

1951 – A view of the northwest section of Bunker Hill, showing the future location of the Music Center with Echo Park and the Hollywood Hills visible in the distance.

https://waterandpower.org/.../Bunker_Hill_1930s_Plus.html...

1951, Looking down from the top of LA City Hall toward the northern edge of Bunker Hill and the remains of Fort Moore Hill. In the foreground the roof of the Hall of Records is visible at the left; the corner of Broadway and Temple Streets at the right. In the right background freeway construction has decimated Fort Moore Hill except for the south portal of the Pacific Electric tunnel. Court Street facing the camera at the left.  Thank you to Jack Feldman.  From Water & Power. 

1967 – Clearing Bunker Hill. The view looks south over a dirt pit with trucks lined up, waiting for their payload. In the distance (upper left), the PacBell Tower (now the AT&T Tower) located at 433 S. Olive Street is visible. Also visible is the Art Deco-style Edison Building (now One Bunker Hill) on the northwest corner of Grand Ave and 5th Street. Photo by William Reagh

https://waterandpower.org/.../Early_City_Views%20(1925%20...

Downtown Los Angeles Hotels and Live-in Apartments

The Dome Hotel, previously called the Minnewaska Hotel was located at 201 S. Grand Avenue on the lot directly south, across the street south, from the Disney Concert Hall, former Bunker Hill. 

The Angelus Hotel

1966, Angelus Hottel.  The photo caption reads, "The Angelus Hotel's days are numbered.  The hostelry at Fourth and Spring Streets will be torn down and the space will be used for a parking lot.  The Angelus Hotel was razed on May 7, 1956.

1924, The Cecil Hotel.

Old Mission Plaza

1894, View of Our Lady of Los Angeles Church with its stucco and stone structure featuring a prominent bell tower on the left. A horse-drawn carriage is stationed in front of the church, while a brick house with dormers is visible on the right. The tall clock tower on Fort Moore Hill in the background is Los Angeles High School, built in 1891, at its second location. The bell tower was replaced by a "bell wall" around 1901 which we see today. The Old Plaza Church was one of the first three sites designated as Historic-Cultural Monuments by the City of Los Angeles and has been recognized as a California Historical Landmark.  Thanks to Jack Feldman.

1900, View of the Old Mission Church from across the LA Plaza.  Several men are seen relaxing on the Plaza benches.  In the background on top of Fort Moore Hill stands Los Angeles High School.

Thanks to LAPL for this pic above.Visitors crowd around old-time fire equipment shown at the First Annual Concourse, sponsored by Box 15 Club, at the Old Plaza Fire House. Photo dated: June 23, 1963. Source: LAP

Circa 1925 The Plaza Church on Main Street across from the Plaza and Olvera Street.  Behind the streetcar is the Hotel Pacific, the office of Philip Morici & Company, "Agencia Italiana," and the grocery store of Giovanni Piume, who also made wine (Piuma Road in Malibu was named for him.)  The area north of the Plaza was at this time an Italian neighborhood.

Gladden Apartments, Los Angeles

 

Thank you to LAPL. 

Jim Dawson notes, 

The building on the right is the Gladden Apartments, at First and Olive. It was featured in the Philip Marlowe film "The Brasher Doubloon" (1947). Raymond Chandler lived there with his mother when he first came to Los Angeles. 

18:47, Florence Apartments, Bunker Hill.

Pasadena Freeway, 1948

 At the bottom of this photo, you can see the sign that reads "Adobe" with an arrow to the right, and "Pasadena" with the arrow straight ahead.  This is right before Stadium Way just as you come away from the Four Level on the Pasadena Freeway, or the 110. 

San Gabriel Apt, 1993-2013

 

From the early 1980s from an old friend, Natalie Mejia.  I always loved her name.  And she was a sweet young woman.